Legal Question in Criminal Law in Minnesota

Re: Juvenile Insurance Fraud

that's a tough question, I assume you mean "accused" instead of "excused" of insurance fraud. But I really have no idea what the facts of the case are and I can't give you a solid answer. However, the general rule is if your boy and two others were co-defendants meaning they all acted together to commit a crime he can't recover anything from the other boys. This is a question best discussed at length with your defense lawyer to make sure restitution is handled properly.

Re: Juvenile Insurance Fraud

This is more of a civil law question than a criminal law question -- though the restitution issue could be a criminal issue. Though you don't state enough facts to be sure, reading between the lines of what you have said, it sounds like you are saying your son is accused of being a member of a criminal conspiracy with two others, to "steal" and burn your son's car, in order to defraud your the insurance company covering your son's car. Given that scenario, if the insurance company did not ever pay out on the claim, the two already convicted would not be ordered to pay restitution to the insurance company, which had suffered no loss. In that situation, your son (and perhaps a bank or other lien-holder on the car) would have suffered the loss. If there was no lien on your son's car, and he owned it wholly, then he would be the only person who suffered a loss as a result of the crime. While I can't be sure without researching the law in the area, my starting hypothesis would be that a criminal co-conspirator may not be able to recover restitution in a criminal case from his co-conspirators. However, you should probably retain a lawyer to research that question for you, as well as the question whether your son can sue civilly and recover from the two co-conspirators for his loss. And, regarding any civil damages suit, he may want to weigh the total amount of money damages he might recover (value of the car, for example), against both the cost of the lawsuit, and the chance of getting a successful recovery.

Do not consider this legal advice on the question. You need to retain a lawyer and provide the lawyer with a full description of the facts, and give the lawyer time to investigate the facts and research the law in order to be able to give you legal advice. Also, his rights in this regard may be reduced or eliminated with the passage of time. Good luck.